Mechanism for gravity handling of



, 1934- J. c. GIFFORD 1,974,609

MECHANISM'FOR GRAVITY HANDLING OF BULK MATERIAL Filed Feb. 8. 1952 4Sheets-Sheet l [N VEN 701a Jo /v C. G/FFORD Sept. 25, 1934. c GlFFORD1,974,609

MECHANISM FOR GRAVITY HANDLING OF BULK MATERIAL Filed Feb. 8.1932 4Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 25, 1934. Q GlFFORD 1,974,609

MECHANISM FOR GRAVITY HANDLING OF BULK MATERIAL Filed Feb. 8, 1932 4Sheets-Sheet s FIG. -4

' INVENTOR 'JO/IIV C: G/FFORD\ Sept. 25, 1934.

J. c. GIFFORD MECHANISM FOR GRAVITY HANDLING OF BULK MATERIAL 4Sheets-Sheet 4 7 Filed Feb. 8, 1952 A TTORNE Y Patented Sept. 25, 1934 luNirsosr TEs PATENT OFFICE.

MECHANISM Fort GRAVITY HANDLING F BULK MATERIAL John 0. Gifford,Aslitab'ula,0hio

Application February 8, 1932, Serial No. 591,608

' 19 Claims. (01. 214-) This invention relates to apparatus for gravitynism shown in Fig. 1; illustrating my improvehandling of bull: material,particularly matements in full lines and showing the relation of rialswhich by reason of brittleness, fragility, or the same to a previouslyexistent structure, the bruisability are subject to injury, and has forits same corresponding to the section line' 2-2 of object the provisionof mechanism to decrease or Fig.4; Fig. 3 is a detail view correspondingto the diminish the accidental breaking or bruising of line 3-3 of Fig.4; Fig. 4 is a plan View correthe same (technically termed degradation)sponding to the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a during such handling. Isectionalview corresponding to the line 5-5 of For example it iscustomary in trans-shipping Figs. 2 and 4; and Figs. 6 and 7 are wiringdia 19 coal by rail to raise and overturn the entire car grams.

at its destination so as to discharge its contents. In order tofacilitate an understanding of the As a result thesecontents aresubjected to-verprinciples of my invention and of a preferred ticalfalls of distances varying from two to fifmode of constructing and usingthe same I conteen feet, and sometimes a series of such falls sider itdesirabie todescribe the construction and 15 arrested at each step bycollision with a rigid operation of a typical transportation device toelement of steel or wood,and inasmuch as the Which my invention is to beapplied for which larger sizes of coal bring substantially-higherpurpose I have chosen a railway car-dumper. prices on the market thanthe finer grades each Such a device is oftentimes set on the edge ofexperience of this nature decreases the value of a dock or quay 1 andcomprises a tower-like 20* the product by an amount which may, in thecase device having upright side elements 2 and 3 deof the brittlevarieties of coal, amount to as much fining a vertical slideway in whichis movable a in the average as twenty-five cents to one dollar cradle 4which is raised and lowered bodily by per ton. The average degradationof prepared means of. suitable cables 5 operated from inside coal fromthe mines to the head of Lake Superior the enginehouse 6v and passingover suitable is variously estimated at from sixty cents to one sheaves.7. Suitable counterweights 8 and 9 are dollar per ton, the averageincluding all varieattached to this cradle and operated along other tiesof coal and all varieties of handling and slideways. At its lowestposition a coal-car (for transit. The degradation or" Pocahontas coalexample) 10 is run on this cradle, suitable clampfrom the mines toDuluth averages approximateing devices (not shown) being provided forits Cal 80 l'y half its total value. In all cases it amounts at securelocatiom'the cradle is hoisted a predeterleast to a substantialproportion of the freight mined height and the car and cradle theninrate and is generally higher than the freight verted as shown indotted lines in Fig. 1, the conrate for several hundred miles ofjourney. Simitents of the car being thereby ejected onto an larconsiderations of degradation though differinclined receiver 11 called apan or chute often- 35 ent in nature and degree apply to other bulktimes of hopper shape having downwardly conminerals such as crushedstone employed for verging side wallslZ (see Fig. 4) and having itsrailroad ballast, concrete aggregate, and some bottom inclined at suchan angle as to convey nietallurgica'lor chemical operations; to certainthe'coal .or other minerals to a desired point of vegetable productssuch as corn and sugar beets; discharge or storage. In Fig. 1 this pancom- 40 and perhaps to other-materials. municates at-itslower end with atelescoping ver- Accordingly the main object of my invention tical chute13, the lower end of which depends is the provision of apparatus wherebythis degrainto the hold of a vessel 14 alongside the dock or elation canbe materially decreased; and while I quay. The downwardly convergingsidewalls 12 have illustrated my improvements specifically in of the panor chutereduce the width of the dis- 4 connection with ac'ar dumpingdevice and decharge end of the pan down to a size comparable scribed itsutility with special reference to the With the inlet of the verticalchute 13. The lower handling of coal, it will be understood that thisend of the pan is here shownas carrying a chuteis chosen merely forillustrative purposes and not operators house '15 from which the heightand because the inventionis limited to this use or inclination of thechute canbe controlled by 50 to the specific form shown. i means of thecables 16 and 17 which are con- Fig. 1 illustrates somewhatdiagrammatically nected to the hoisting engines 18 and 19 respece.car-dumping and vessel-loading device showtively. The elevation of thepan 11 can also be ing one mode of applying my improvements varied, a.very common expedient being to attach thereto; Fig. 2 is a verticalsectionalview drawn the same to ahorizontal girder 20 (Fig. 2) vertitoenlarged scalethrough a part of the mecha cally movable along thatside-member 2 of the tower to which the cradle is adjacent; and means isprovided for inverting the cradle at the desired position relative tothis pan such as forming said girder with arms 21 terminating in ahorizontal member 22 adapted to engage slots 23 in one side of thecradle 4, so as to arrest the movement of that side of the cradle, whilethe opposite side continues to rise and thereby perform the overturningmotion. During this overturning the side of the car 10 reclines againstsuitable buffers 24. All the foregoing parts are old and Widely used,and are here explained only to facilitate the understanding of thesurroundings in which one form of my invention -is employed.

The burden of a coal car varies from 50 to 1 10 tons and this entireload is discharged inapproximately five seconds which entails impartingrather high velocities to at least some parts-of the load with theproduction of correspondingly vio lent impacts and it is one object ofmy invention to .soften this impact without substantially impeding ormaterially slowing :the operation of the car-.dumper.

According to vmyinvention .I equip the element which receives the coalor other breakable products, in this casethe pan .l-l, withr-a movableibafile member by which the movement of such product can be arrested andregulated so as to reduce or cushion this vertical drop and therebydecrease the degradation. In the present embodiment this baffle consistsof a sort of elongated gate pivoted by means of shaft-means .31 to arms32 projecting from the longitudinal members 33 of "a carriage.Traversi-ng transversely the top of the pan 11 are .a pair of girders 34provided with guides 35 (here shown as rollers) .by which the rear endsof these longitudinal members .33 are supported and guided. The forwardend of this carriage is supported by the shaft-means 31, the ends ofwhich run-in slots 36 of guides '37 located one near each side-wall ofthe pan. The rear ends of these guides may be supported by one of thegirders 34 as shown in Fig. 3,; the forward ends are here shown assupported by means of uprights .38 secured to the bottom of the pan (seeFigs. '3 and .5).

Carried by the girder .34 is a platform 40 on which is mounted atransverse horizontal shaft 41, operatively connected through suitablespeedreduction gearing 42 to an electric-motor 43 and having near eachend .a toothed pinion 44 meshing with a rack-member 45 which isconnected to the shaft-means 31. Operation of the motor 43 in onedirection or the other will cause a forward or backward movement of thecarriage and baffle.

Mounted on the carriage isa second horizontal transverse shaft 46connected through speed reducing gearing 47 to a motor 48 and havingnear each end a pinion 49 meshing with a rack motor 48 and having neareach end a pinion 49 meshing with a rack 50, which is connected to anupstanding lever-arm 51 rigid with the baifle 30. By causing rotation ofthe motor 43 in one direction or the other, the bafiie 30 can be rotatedabout its pivot 31 as shown in the full and dotted lines in Fig. 2. Itwill be noted that the racks 45 and 58 are in the constructionillustrated located one directly above the other so that one of the samepartly hides the other in Fig. 4, but comparison with Figs. 2 and 5 willmake the matter plain, and the construction illustrated has certainpractical advantages of simplicity.

Slidably mounted on each of the guides 3'] is a vertical shield-plate52, preferably having its upwardly or forwardly facing portion 53 flaredoutwardly, and having its bottom depending nearly to the pan 11. Theseshield-plates are located one at each end of the baiile 30. In order toprevent over-running of the motors and to hold the parts fixedly inposition when not being intentionally operated, I have shown each motor43 and 48 as equipped with brakes 54 and 54 respectively operativelyconnected to solenoids '55 and 55 respectively which are so connected incircuit as to become released whenever the corre :sponding motor isenergized, and to arrest and hold the mechanism whenever the circuit isopened.

Assuming that the complete apparatus heretofore described is employed,the preferred mode of operation is as follows: prior to the arrival of acar at the dumping position, the bafile 30 is moved to its forwardupright position shown in .Fig. 2, as near the top of the pan and edgeof the cradle as the particular installation renders expedient, andcertainly sufficiently close to prevent :the entire car contents fromfalling out of the same. As a result, only a limited falling movement ofthe material can occur, and what little cascading does occur after thevery first is arrested by contact with a preceding portion of the load.Trefer-ably the arrangement is such that only a limited outfall :cf thecar-contents is possible with the baffle in this position butlocalconditions sometimes impede the utilization of :my principle to itscompletest extent. Thereupon the motor 43 is energized to retract theracks 45 in a gradual manner, and thereby retracting the indie 30 whichallows a gradual and gentle outfall of the material. The dimensions arepreferably so chosen that :by the time the baffle reaches the dottedline position shown in 2, the entire contents of the car will have beendischarged. At this point the motor '43 is stopped and the motor 48 isstarted, which rotates the bafile 30 so as to allow the material to moveslowly therepast down the sloping pan. speed of this movement is reducedin any case by the slant of the pan-bot-tom which is ordinarily sochosen as to prevent excessive speed and also by the convergingsidewalls 1.2 of the pan which operate both to reduce the effectivegradient traveled by a large part of the materials and to cause the lastportion of the load to be retarded by contact with the preceding portionwhich collects at the relatively narrow discharge end of the pan. Assoon the bafile has been moved to its non-obstructing position the motor48 is stopped, and the motor 43 started in reverse direction so as torestore the carriage to its former position, as shown in Fig. 2, afterwhich the motor 43 is again stopped and the motor 48 is started(assuming the material by this time to have moved out of the way) so asto restore the baflie 3G to upright position ready for a second load.

"These operations may obviously be controlled manually, although it iswithin my invention to render the same automatic. One mode of effectingthis is by means of a series of switches connected and wired asindicated diagrammatically in Figs. 6 and '7, wherein Fig. 6 illustratesa desirable type of layout of the general wiring system for the controlof an entire mechanism such as above explained, and Fig. 7 is anenlarged diagrammatic view of the arrangements in one of the junctionboxes 0 in Fig. 6. The junction boxes 0 and P and the motors 43 and 48are identical in construction and like parts of such devices willhereinafter be referred to by like numorals and reference letters, withdifierence" between that the numerals and letters referring to the partsof the junction box P and the motor- 48 are primednumerals and letters."I

43 represents the rack motor, and 48 the rotating motor as before, eachhaving commutators 100 and 100' and field coils 101 and lOl, the coils102 and 102- of the corresponding brakes and 55* being connected inseries with the field coil. The armature contacts are connected betweenterminals a and b in the junctionbox O, the field and brake coilsbetween the terminals c and d, the last named terminal being also connected to a terminal e'joinedto one line-wire 103 and to a terminal Iconnected to one wire 104 of the stop-circuit; a terminal g paired withterminal e is connected to the other line-wire 105, also to themid-terminal h of the reversingcircuit 106 and to switch'points i and 1inside the box. Other switch points It and Z pairedwith i and jrespectively are connected to terminal 0, and cooperating with points z,j, k and Z are the switch members in, 12, 0 and p respectively, m beingconnected to oand 552 being connected to n by means of insulatingfastenings q. Theswitchunit m-o is under the influence of a solenoid rand the switch-unit p-n is under the influence of a second solenoid 8,one end of each solenoid being joined to a terminal t of thestop-circuit and their other ends being connected, respectively, to thesupplemental contacts u and v-joined to the re. spective terminals toand r of thereversing-circuit. Box P is arranged internally exactly likebox 0. i

Mounted in position to be engaged by some,

part of the moving mechanism are switch devices A, B, C, D, E, F, G andH. Switches A, C, D and G are normally open and switches 13, E, F and Hare normally closed. y designates an operating element of any suitablekind projecting from each switch which, upon contact, changes thecondition of that switch from that shown in the drawings to the oppositecondition, and which, upon release, allows that switch to return to itsillustrated condition.

Located in one of the control-houses are two switch panels carrying themanuallyoperated switches H, I, J, K, L, and M. Switches 11, J,

K, and M are normally open, switches I and L are normally closed. Theletters F, S and R appearing adjacent to these switches: are forforward, stop, and reverse respectively; One pole of switch A isconnected by a circuit element 107 to a circuit-element 108 whichjoinsterminal a: of box Oto one of the terminals of switch K. Oneterminal ofthe switch D is connected by circuit-element 109 to a circuit element 101 which connects terminal 20, of box 0 to one terminal of the switch M.The remaining terminals of switches A and D are connected by the circuitelement 117 to the mid-wire 106 of the reversing-circuit which is alsoconnected to the remaining poles of switches K and M.

One pole of switch Bis connected by circuitelement 110 to terminal t ofbox 0 and the op posite pole of switch B is connected by circuitelement111, first to switch L and then to one terminal of switch F. Theremaining terminal of switch F is connected by circuit-element 112 toterminal 1 of box 0.-

One pole of switch C is connected by circuit element 113 to terminal hof box 0 whichjis the middle element of the reversing-circuit. Thisterminal is also connected'to one side of switches .G, H and J. Theother terminal of switch C is connected by circuit element 114 toterminal 0: of box P and also to the remaining terminal of switch J. Oneterminal of each of the switches E and N are connected by a circuitelement 115 in series with each other. The other terminal of the switchN is connected and with terminal 13' of box P and the other terminal ofthe switch E is connected with switch I. and thusly with terminal f ofbox P, so that the operation of any of these switches E, N or I willopen that circuit. Theremaining pole of switch G is connected bycircuit-element 116 to the terminal w of box P, and also to theremaining terminal of switch H. Terminals e and g of box 0 and c and gof box P are connected to main line wires 103 and 105, said line beingunder the control of master switch 2.

\ The mode of operation of the electrical circuits is as iollowsz westart with the carriage in its uppermost position, and the baffle inobstructing position exactly as shown in Fig. 2; the switches all asshown in Figs. 6 and 7 except a master switch Z which is closed. Inorder to start the mechanism the attendant closes switch K by pressingthe button marked F for forward. 5 This closes the circuit 103, c, J",112, F, 111, L, 111, B, 110, t, solenoid 8, contact 1), terminal as,108, K, 106, h, g, line 105. The solenoids cause theswitch unit 113-4ito move to closed position, and then switch 11. by contact with vretains the circuit just established and holds the switch closed. As aconsequence current flows through the circuit 103, e, d, brake coil 102,field coil 101, 0, contact Z, switch bar p, terminal a, armature 100,terminal b, switch bar 11, terminal terminal 9, line 105. 110 Theconsequent movement of the carriage by the motor is eventually brings itinto contact with the switches B and C. The operation of B breaks thecircuit first above described, which de-energizes the solenoid s andfrees the switch unit p'n which immediately stops the operation of motor43 (the same result could have beenproduced at any time in case of needby actuating switch L). The closing of switch C has the following eiiectupon the parts in the box'P, viz: It establishes a circuit from 105through It, 113, C, 114, :c, '0, solenoid 5', terminal t, circuit 115and switches 11, E, I (in series) to terminal 1, terminal e and line103; this energizes solenoid s of box P which closes the correspondingswitch unit pn' and operates the motor 48, thereby swinging the baiile30 into non-obstructing position, which movement finally brings somepart of the same into contact with the switches E and D with thefollowing result: The opening of the former breaks the circuit 115 (ascould have been done at any time by means of switch I) whichde-energizes the solenoid s and opens the circuit of motor 48. Theclosing-of switch D permits the flow of a current in box 0 from the main105 through g, h, 7', 106, 117, D, 109, 104, w, solenoid 1', terminal t,circuit 110, switches B, L, and F in series, circuit 112, i, e and line103. This thereupon moves the switch unit m o to closed position andoperates motor 43 in the reverse direction, thereby restoring thecarriage to its original position, whereupon contact is made with theswitches F and G. The switch F opens the circuit through and to whichde-energizes the solenoid r and allows the corresponding switch to openthereupon arresting motor 43 (which could have been done at any time bypressing the button L) while closing of the switch G establishes acircuit through the solenoid r of box P thereby actuating motor 48 inthe reverse direction which restores the battle to its originalposition, whereupon said baffle simultaneously engages switches A and N.The consequent opening of the circuit at N arrests the motion of themotor 48 by de-energizing the solenoid r in box P (which might have beendone at any time by pressing the button I); while the closing of switchA has exactly the same effect as did the original closing of switch K,and starts the entire cycle over again. At any instant in the entirecycle any action of any part can be arrested by pressing one of the stopbuttons, and either one of the motors can be started in either directionby means of one of the forward or reverse buttons.

Presumably it will not always be found necessary to employ this entirecircuit, but I suggest this as producing a system which is entirelyoperative automatically, and wherein the separate elements can becontrolled manually at any time.

The length of the bafile 30 is preferably made at least the length ofthe average car; when the check-pieces are flared as shown at 53 theyfurther tend to collect the material, and to compensate for extra longcars or for the erratic placing of the cars in the cradle. When thesecheck-pieces are spaced laterally from the sidewalls of the receivingmember or pan they are also spaced longitudinally therefrom to permitany material falling outside the same to pass into the body of the pan.Some pans or receiving members, however, are made with parallel sides inwhich case these check-pieces can either be omitted or caused toapproach closer thereto.

It is not necessary in all cases that means be .provided to move thebafile bodily forward and back, or that the movement of the baflle intoand out of obstructing position be a pivotal movement. Even if thecarriage be omitted or locked in a fixed position, a substantial degreeof control over the movement of the material can be efiected by openingor closing this baffle to a greater or lesser extent. Furthermore it isnot necessary that electric-means or even that power-means be employedto operate this baiile or to move the carriage (in cases where suchcarriage is employed) since any power-source can be employed or evenmanual labor. The use of my improvements is not limited to boat-loadersor car-dumpers, but can be employed in stone-crushers, mine-tipples,grain-elevators, fruit and vegetable packing establishments, andwherever a cushioned gravity handling of sensitive material is inquestion.

Accordingly it will be understood that many changes in form, shape,mounting, and mode of operation of my essential improvements can bemade, and that I do not limit myself to any of the details herein shownor described except as the same are specifically recited in my severalclaims which I desire may be construed each according to its ownlimitations and without reference to limitations contained in otherclaims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprisingthe combination with an inclined chute of a bafiie traversing said chuteat a point adjacent to the upper end thereof so as to form a pockettherewith and controllable means for selectively and independentlymoving said baifie both longitudinally and laterally of said chute forfixing saidbaffle in selected positions of obstruction andnon-obstruction at diiierent predetermined points along and relative tosaid chute, said means being adapted to effect the difierent movementsof said bafiie independently of each other.

2. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprisingthe combination with an inclined chute of a baiile traversing said chuteat a point near the upper end thereof so as to form a pocket therewith,means whereby said baifie is pivoted upon an axis transverse to saidchute, and controllable self-contained power means carried by said chutefor rotating and holding said bafile in diiferent angular positionsrelative to its axis to thereby vary and fix its obstructive efiect onthe materials in said chute from maximum to substantially zero.

3. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprisingthe combination with an inclined chute of a bafiie transverse to saidchute, a support for said baffle, means including a motor for movingsaid baffle support bodily to different positions longitudinally of saidchute, and means including a second motor for moving said baffle withrespect to said support for fixing said baiile in different degrees ofobstructive position relative to said chute.

4. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprisingthe combination of a gravity chute, a carriage movable longitudinally ofsaid chute, a bafiie operatively attached to said carriage and movabletherewith, and means for moving said baflie independently of saidcarriage to vary its obstructing effect on the materials in said chuteat various predetermined points along said chute.

5. The combination with a car-dumper and its supporting structure of avertical chute having an inclined pan communicating with the chute atits upper end and carried at one side of said supporting structure inposition to receive and hold substantially the entire car contents uponthe dumping thereof and a bafile carried by said pan at a point adjacentto the upper end thereof and defining therewith a compartment forreceiving the material discharged from the car and self-contained powermeans carried by said pan for moving said baflle both longitudinally andlaterally of said pan whereby the materials may be quickly dischargedfrom the car onto said pan and then fed to said chute at a relativelyslower rate.

6. The combination with a car-dumper of a relatively narrow chute havinga communicating inclined pan with downwardly converging side wallsmounted at its upper end to receive and hold substantially the entirecar contents in the upper end thereof and a movable bafiie plate carriedby said pan at a point a short distance from the upper end thereof, andmeans to move and fix said baffle plate in positions of variedobstructing and non-obstructing effect within said pan only whereby tofirst control the rate of escape of material from said car and then toregulate the discharge of material from said pan and into said chute.

7. The combination with a car-dumper of an inclined pan with downwardlyconverging side walls mounted to receive and hold substantially theentire car contents in the upper end thereof and a baille elementtraversing said pan, means for moving said bame element toward and fromsaid pan whereby to regulate its obstructing effect, and means for alsomoving said baffle element longitudinally of said pan along the upperportion only thereof to control the initial movement of material out ofthe car and down the portion of said pan traversed by said baiiie.

8. The combination with a car-dumper of an inclined pan with downwardlyconverging side walls spaced from each other at their. upper ends to awidth at least as great as the length; of the car mounted to receiverthecar contents and a carriage movable lengthwise of the upper end portionof the pan, a baffle element movable with said carriage and also movablerelatively to said carriage, power means for controllably effectingmovement of said carriage to convey the entire car contents in acontrolled manner onto the upper end portion of said pan, and means forvarying and fixing the position of said baffle relatively' to saidcarriage to then release the mate rials discharged from the car for freemovement down said pan after they have been conveyed part way down saidpan in the aforesaid manner, the converging side walls of said panserving to retard the flow of the materials down the portion of the panbelow said battle.

9. In apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk, thecombination with a gravity chute adapted to receive such materials atits upper end, of a balile element mounted in said I chute and havingtwo independent movements therein, one longitudinal of said chute forcontrolling the movement of the materials over a portion of said chuteand the other crosswise of said chute for releasing the materials forfree movement down said chute, and controllable motor means andassociated gearing carried by said chute for selectively moving andfixing the position of said baffle-element along each such path ofmovement.

10. In a car-dumper, the combination with a car cradle, its supportingstructure and an inclined downwardly narrowing pan having a width at itsupper end at least as great as the length of the car and carried at oneside of said supporting structure, of a baflie in said pan at the upperend thereof, means for presenting said baffie at a point opposite to theopen top of said car as the same is overturned toward said pan, andmeans for controlling the movement of said baille away from said carwhereby the escape of the entire car contents onto said pan is quicklyeffected and the contents of the car are conveyed in a controlled mannerpart way down said pan whereupon the car-dumper may be operated toreplace the empty car with a loaded car and said baiile may be movedlaterally away from the bottom of the pan and returned again to itsinitial position while the materials released by this movement of thebaiile have their downward flow retarded by the narrowing width ofthe-pan.

11. In apparatus for handling bulk material, the combination with acar-dumper and its supporting structure, of an inclined downwardlynarrowing pan carried at one side of said supporting structure andhaving a width at its upper end at least as great as the length of acar, and means for controllably obstructing the outflow of materialsfrom the car after the same has reached dumping position comprising abattle carried by said pan and self-contained power mounted at one sideof said supporting structure to receive and hold the entire carpontentsin its upper end, of power-operated means carried entirely by said panfor first retarding the outflow of material from the car, next easingthe material delivered from the car part way down said pan and thenreleasing the material for free movement down the remainder of pan afterits delivery from the car whereby the empty car can be replaced by afilled-car during such latter movement of the material.

13. The combination with a car-dumper. and

its supporting structure, an'inclined panhaving a width'at its upper endat least as great as the length of a car and mounted at one side ofsaid. supporting structure to receive the car contents, of a baiilecarried by said pan for first checking the outiiow of materials from thecar onto said pan and power operated means carried entirely by said panfor next bodilymoving said baiile part way down said pan and away fromthe car during the car-dumping operation and then moving said baiilelaterally away from said pan after the car has been substantiallyemptied into the upper end of said pan to release the materials in saidpan for gravity movement down the remainder of said pan whereby thecar-dumper can be operated to replace the empty car with a full carduring at least a part of the time required for the handling of thematerial in said pan, the lower end of said baiiie having a relativelyrestricted discharge opening whereby to retard the flow of materialsbetween said bafile and the discharge end of said pan.

14. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprisingthe combination of a gravity chute, a carriage movable longitudinally ofsaid chute, power means for effecting the movement of said carriage, abattle operatively attached to said carriage and movable therewith,power means for moving said baiiie independently of said carriage forvarying its obstructing effect on the materials in said chute andcontrol means for said power means.

15. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprisingthe combination of a gravity chute, a carriage movable longitudinally ofsaid chute, power means for effecting the movement of said carriage, abaffle operatively attached to said carriage and movable therewith,power means for moving said baffle independently of said carriage forvarying its obstructing effect relative to said chute, control means forinitiating the downward longitudinal movement of said carriage and othercontrol means operatively associated with said carriage and baiile forauto matically causing the raising of the baffle at the end of thedownward movement of said carriage and the restoring of said carriageand said baffle to their original position.

16. Apparatus for the gravity handling of ma terials in bulk comprising,the combination with an inclined chute of a baffle traversing said chutefor controlling the gravity flow of materials, means for supporting saidbaffle for movement toward and away from said chute at different pointsalong its length, and controllable power means for moving and holdingsaid bafi'le in different positions with respect to the bottom of saidchute and independently of its supporting means to thereby vary and fixits obstructive effect to the flow of materials down said chute frommaximum to minimum.

1'7. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprising,the combination with an inclined chute of a bafiie traversing said chutefor controlling the gravity flow of materials, means for supporting saidbaffle for movement toward and away from said chute, and controllablepower means comprising a rack operatively connected to said baflle and apower driven pinion in mesh therewith for moving and holding said battlein different positions with respect tosaid chute to thereby vary and fixits obstructive efiect to the flow of materials down said chute frommaximum to minimum.

18. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprising,the combination with an inclined chute of a hafile traversing said chutefor controll ng the gravity flow of materials, means for support'mg saidbafiie for independent movements both longitudinally of said chute andtoward and away from the bottom of said chute, and independentlyoperable controllable power means for longitudinally and laterallymoving and holding said baffle selectively in different positions withrespect to said chute to thereby vary and fix its obstructive effect tothe flow of materials down said chute from maximum to minimum.

19. Apparatus for the gravity handling of materials in bulk comprising,the combination with an inclined chute of a baffle traversing said chutefor controlling the gravity now of materials, means for supporting saidbaffle for movement both longitudinally of said chute and toward andaway from the bottom of said chute, and controllable power meanscomprising rack means operatively connected to said bafile and powerdriven pinion means engaging said rack means for longitudinally andlaterally moving and holding said baiiie in different positions withrespec to said chute to thereby vary and fix its obstructive effect tothe flow of materials down said chute from maximum to minimum.

JOHN C. GIFFORD.

